


A Tea, Some Salty Bitter, & a Broken Birdhouse

by transmollymauk



Series: Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Deaf Character, Other, Tumblr Prompt, in which julian does a thing, my apprentice is deaf/hoh, rated teen & up just to be safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25094605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transmollymauk/pseuds/transmollymauk
Summary: Prompt: “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”Thank you @another-blue-blog on tumblr for the request!
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak
Series: Tumblr Prompts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1786435
Kudos: 10





	A Tea, Some Salty Bitter, & a Broken Birdhouse

‘How the hell did you set fire to the birdhouse?!’

It was a peaceful day around Vesuvia’s magic shop - emphasis on ‘was’. Where there’d been no sound or commotion, there was now pots flying and a young man holding a very threatening stew pot at the local doctor. ‘I worked all day on it! I thought I’d put it out of your reach!’

The doctor, commonly known as Julian Devorak, just chuckled at the sight. When Asra’s apprentice Lavender was mad, his signing was sharp, and his gaze was worse still. His fingers were curled up angrily, even as he pointed towards where the little clockwork birdhouse once stood - high on a shelf with a sign reading ‘NO’. Lavender tossed his stew pot to the side in annoyance. ‘How… how did you even set it on fire? Asra and I both put a spell on it to keep it intact-’

‘I think you forget that I’ve killed the count with flames,’ the doctor interrupted, sending a red-eyed wink his way. He threw an arm over the brunet’s shoulder and started walking around the shop, Lavender in tow. He should’ve known his way around this place by now - he would sneak in night after night when he was in relations with Lavender’s master, and lately he’d been doing the same, but for the apprentice. Still, he had no clue where he was leading them. ‘I’ll ask Muriel to make you a new one, love - I could even make you one! You know, Pasha and I, we used to make little birdhouses in Nevivon to give to our grandmothers - Mazelinka still has the one we gave her for her 53rd birthday, I think…’

Lavender rolled his eyes. His arms went limp at Julian’s waist, and it took everything in him not to wrap a sneaky arm around him, to pull him into a quiet corner of the shop where nobody would see - but instead Julian had led them to the kitchen.

The shop had only a small kitchen in comparison to others in the city, though it was roomy enough. A little glass table sat next to the wall with three oddly-coloured wicker chairs nearby. Asra had left another skink sandwich on the table - thankfully he’d spelled it to never go bad. Julian went right ahead and looked around for the tea kettle, while the apprentice took a seat, close enough so he could watch him. There was still a hint of anger in his mood, but it was hard to keep the feeling, no matter how much he wanted to. His doctor always knew how to push his buttons.

He swung his feet back and forth as he watched Julian scramble to put the now-boiling kettle on a hotmat - the one day he didn’t bother with his gloves, either. A small laugh escaped Lavender’s lips, which he quickly covered up with a hand to his mouth. _Too late_ , he noted, as Julian looked right at him with a twinkle in his eyes.

‘Did I just hear you laugh?’ He smirked as he made his way to his partner. He took one of Lavender’s hands and pressed a gentle kiss to the knuckles. Setting it down again, he began to sign to him. ‘You have a gorgeous laugh, my darling. I wish you’d laugh more often.’

‘I wish I could hear yours - you seem to do it a lot.’ Lavender sighed, shaking his head. He reached across the table to pour himself a cup of chamomile tea - Julian simply stared into his cup as he not-so-sneakily poured a flask of something into it. Lavender proceeded to pour a dash of the tea into the cup anyways, much to Julian’s horror.

‘Lavender!’

The apprentice, in turn, laughed, shaking the kettle as he did. Julian had to grab it from him before it fell to the floor, or the piping hot drink got on them; he didn’t want to have doctor duty on a Sunday, after all. ‘Oh, you scallywag, you - now just you wait.’

And before Lavender knew it, the doctor was pouring his alcohol into the apprentice’s tea. Lavender looked at him in shock.

‘Drink!’ Julian held his cup out to his partner, a warm sense of happiness in his eyes. Rolling his own eyes, Lavender took his cup and clinked it against the other; the doctor’s face lit up with bliss. ‘You’ll love this, darling, it’s actually a Nevivon tradition I forgot about, you see-’. Lavender took Julian’s hands and set them down on the table, shaking his head. Julian nodded in response.

It took a few minutes before the apprentice held his cup again. The doctor didn’t seem to hate the drink - in fact, he was starting to pour a second cup - but Lavender was never one for weird concoctions, despite living with Asra. Still, it was starting to form a milky black-brown colour, and was emitting a nice aroma. It looked like something he’d buy at a fancy tea shop. With a hesitant hand, he lifted the cup up to his mouth and took a little sip.

It… didn’t taste horrid?

He looked at Julian, then the cup, then back at Julian. His partner simply smiled at him with a wave. Lavender sighed once more and tried another sip; more, this time. It had a weird flavour, something definitely foreign to Vesuvia, though it felt welcoming and somehow very familiar. It tasted like the doctor’s lips, and felt like his touch. Before he knew it, he’d finished the cup and was grabbing for the kettle. He could feel Julian’s laughing rhythm from the other side of the table. ‘That wasn’t so bad, was it? I had a feeling you’d like it!’ He gave Lavender a gentle pat on the back. ‘I’ll have to take you to Nevivon myself one day, so you can try all of their magnificent drinks like this. I, uh…’ He paused; he looked down at the regions of his partner that weren’t his face, half in his “I need you” way, and the other in… well, Lavender wasn’t sure.

He drew a hand out for his partner to take; Julian shook his head, took a shallow breath and continued again. ‘I hope to take you there someday as something… more than this. More than whatever this is.’ _Was he…?_

‘Ilya, what…?’ Lavender’s eyes grew wide with concern. He quickly took another sip of his alcohol-induced tea. ‘Are you proposing? I’m still mad at you for my birdhouse -’

‘I’ll shower you with birdhouses galore as wedding gifts,’ he teased in return. There was a red glow to his pale face. ‘And, uh, this is sort of a proposal, I think… I intended to wait for the ring to be finished, but Nadia said it’ll be another two days and I couldn’t wait - also I, uh… I burnt your birdhouse because I thought it’d be a fun way to bring this topic up… heh.’ He didn’t have much time to think over what he said, as Lavender threw his arms around him with a few tears in his eyes. Julian smiled, burying himself into the embrace.

Maybe the tea and salty bitter mix was a good idea after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this! I really enjoyed writing this, and it’s also my first piece with my Lavender. I hope to write more about him soon!
> 
> Kudos and comments are great but not necessary!
> 
> Tumblr: asralikesmuriel (previously transvalerius)


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